• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.425-432
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• 2015

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Food insecurity has been suggested as being negatively associated with healthy behaviors and health status. This study was performed to identify the associations between food insecurity and healthy behaviors among Korean adults. SUBJECTS/METHODS: The data used were the 2011 Community Health Survey, cross-sectional representative samples of 253 communities in Korea. Food insecurity was defined as when participants reported that their family sometimes or often did not get enough food to eat in the past year. Healthy behaviors were considered as non-smoking, non-high risk drinking, participation in physical activities, eating a regular breakfast, and maintaining a normal weight. Multiple logistic regression and multinomial logistic regression analyses were used to identify the association between food insecurity and healthy behaviors. RESULTS: The prevalence of food insecurity was 4.4% (men 3.9%, women 4.9%). Men with food insecurity had lower odds ratios (ORs) for non-smoking, 0.75 (95% CI: 0.68-0.82), participation in physical activities, 0.82 (95% CI: 0.76-0.90), and eating a regular breakfast, 0.66 (95% CI: 0.59-0.74), whereas they had a higher OR for maintaining a normal weight, 1.19 (95% CI: 1.09-1.30), than men with food security. Women with food insecurity had lower ORs for non-smoking, 0.77 (95% CI: 0.66-0.89), and eating a regular breakfast, 0.79 (95% CI: 0.72-0.88). For men, ORs for obesity were 0.78 (95% CI: 0.70-0.87) for overweight and 0.56 (95% CI: 0.39-0.82) for mild obesity. For women, the OR for moderate obesity was 2.04 (95% CI: 1.14-3.63) as compared with normal weight. CONCLUSIONS: Food insecurity has a different impact on healthy behaviors. Provision of coping strategies for food insecurity might be critical to improve healthy behaviors among the population.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.63 no.4
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• pp.693-724
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• 2021

The in-vitro meat is a novel concept in food biotechnology comprising field of tissue engineering and cellular agriculture. It involves production of edible biomass by in-vitro culture of stem cells harvested from the muscle of live animals by self-organizing or scaffolding methodology. It is considered as efficient, environmental friendly, better ensuring public safety and nutritional security, as well as ethical way of producing meat. Source of stem cells, media ingredients, supply of large size bioreactors, skilled manpower, sanitary requirements, production of products with similar sensory and textural attributes as of conventional meat, consumer acceptance, and proper set up of regulatory framework are challenges faced in commercialization and consumer acceptance of in-vitro meat. To realize any perceivable change in various socio-economic and environmental spheres, the technology should be commercialized and should be cost-effective as conventional meat and widely accepted among consumers. The new challenges of increasing demand of meat with the increasing population could be fulfill by the establishment of in-vitro meat production at large scale and its popularization. The adoption of in-vitro meat production at an industrial scale will lead to self-sufficiency in the developed world.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.41 no.8
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• pp.887-899
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• 2008

Recently the Ministry of Health and Welfare, Republic of Korea, announced the “Dietary Guidelines for Korean Adults (DGKA)”, which includes ten Dietary Goals, six Dietary Guidelines, and twenty-three Action Guidelines. DGKA are developed as the revision of the 2003 Dietary Guidelines for Koreans, targeting adult population. Dietary Guidelines are developed for general purpose as well as for different age groups. They are revised periodically to accommodate changes in diet and health problems of the population. The process of developing new DGKA can be summarized as 1) selection of focus areas, 2) analysis and review of available data for each area selected, and 3) derivation of guidelines based on the analyzed data, and 4) finalizing the guidelines after open discussions among the experts and general public. Five focus areas were selected by examining the Nutrition Goals of the Health Plan 2010 of Korea, soliciting proposals from the experts in the related fields, and reviewing existing and international guidelines. Five areas selected were 1) adequate intake of nutrients and foods, 2) balance of energy intake and physical activities, 3) alcohol intake, 4) food security and nutrition service, and 5) food safety. Adequacy of nutrient and food intakes of the Korean adult population was assessed using 2005 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) data. Newly developed Dietary Reference Intakes for Koreans were used as reference values to assess the prevalence of inadequacies and excesses in nutrient intakes. Energy balance was examined with energy intake of 2005 KNHANES survey and results of physical activity questionnaire in the survey. Alcohol intake was also examined using 2005 KNHANES results of dietary intakes as well as the results of questionnaire survey on alcohol intakes. Food security, nutrition services, and food safety were analyzed using various government data and published results on the issues. Ten Dietary Goals and six Dietary Guidelines were developed after data analysis and were subjected to reviews of experts and general public. The final DGKA are: 1) Eat a variety of foods from each food group, 2) Increase physical activity and maintain healthy weight, 3) Eat proper amount of clean foods, 4) Avoid salty foods and try to eat foods with bland taste, 5) Avoid foods with high fat contents and deep-fried foods, and 6) When you drink alcohol, limit the amount. Twenty-three action guidelines are developed in order to achieve these guidelines in actual diet and life among the population. The government is disseminating the guidelines with “337” slogan and emblem. “337” indicates everyone should practice “3” guidelines of promoting good eating practice, “3” guidelines to limit or decrease in your diet, and you should practice them for “7” days a week. The guidelines will be useful in promoting healthy food habits and good nutritional status which will result in decrease nutrition related health problems in Korea.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.122-131
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• 2013

Based on data generated from 180 randomly selected households with children age under five years old in Aysaita district of Afar region of Ethiopia, this study explored prevalence of malnutrition and scrutinized household characteristics, maternal characteristics, specifics of the child and economic variables associated with child malnutrition. The height-for-age Z-scores (HAZ), weight-for-height Z-scores (WHZ) and weight-for-age Z-scores (WAZ) were used to measure the extent of stunting, wasting and underweight, respectively. The results revealed that prevalence of long term nutritional imbalance and malnutrition status indicator (i.e. stunting) was 67.8%. The short term measure (wasting) was found to be 12.8% and underweight was found to be 46.1%. Moreover, children in households which are headed by women, and characterized by more dependency ratio, less access to assets, health services and institutions are more likely to be undernourished.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.54 no.2
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• pp.179-198
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• 2021

Purpose: This study examined general characteristics, health status, accessibility to medical services, health-related quality of life, dietary behavior, and energy and nutrient intakes of the elderly at different levels of food security utilizing data from the 7th Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2016-2018). Methods: The elderly subjects (1,721 males and 2,271 females) were divided into 3 groups (secure, mildly insecure, moderately/severely insecure) according to their food security levels. Health and nutrient status was determined using energy intake, nutrient density, the prevalence of insufficient nutrient intake, dietary behavior, and health status. Results: The elderly with food insecurities had a lower self-evaluated health status and a higher prevalence of physician-diagnosed chronic diseases such as arthritis, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoporosis for males, and hypertension, stroke, arthritis, and osteoarthritis for females. The associated financial burden was the major reason for not accessing medical services in the food insecure group. Furthermore, the food insecure group had a higher risk of impaired health-related quality of life compared to the secure group. The proportion of subjects with an energy intake below the estimated energy requirement was higher in the food insecure group and a significantly higher prevalence of insufficient intake was observed for all the nutrients (proteins, vitamin A, vitamin B₁, vitamin B₂, niacin, vitamin C, calcium, and iron) assessed in this study compared to the food secure group. Conclusion: This study suggests that food insecurity poses a challenge to the health and nutritional status of the elderly population in Korea and needs proper management. It would be helpful to develop food and nutrition assistance programs to ensure the food stability of the elderly population and assure quality to address gaps in their nutrient intake.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.62-68
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• 2012

The vegetable brassicas are an important crop worldwide and are of significant commercial value. In order to ensure our targets for food security are met it is important that these crops are continually improved to increase sustainability of production, increase nutritional quality and reduce waste. Development of resistances against both biotic and abiotic stress are recognised as being key. Plant breeding plays a vital role in addressing these issues through the development of new and improved varieties. This continued improvement is becoming evermore dependent on our ability to identify and introgress beneficial alleles from 'exotic' germplasm into elite breeding material. Increasingly, more diverse germplasm such as those found in genebanks is being screened for benificial allelic variation, however, plant breeders often find it difficult to make use of such material due to the time required to remove undesirable characteristics from progeny due to linkage drag. This article describes how we have attempted to overcome this and develop resources that make the diversity available within the $Brassica$ $oleracea$ genepool more accessible.

• Korean journal of applied entomology
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• v.61 no.1
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• pp.229-238
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• 2022

Animal pollination is an important ecosystem service provided mostly by diverse insect groups such as bees and hover flies. Maintaining agricultural productivity and securing the nutritional balance are closely tied to human wellbeing. This study aimed to estimate the pollination dependent food production in Korean agricultural system. Crop production data were obtained from Korean statistical information service (KOSIS) data of 2015. By implementing pollination dependency, crop production and market price, contribution of insect pollination to crop production increase were estimated from total 71 crops including 12 cereals, 19 fruits, 18 field vegetables, 13 greenhouse vegetables and 9 specialty crops. Mean pollination dependency of all crops were 29.2% and it was higher on fruits, specialty crops and greenhouse vegetables as well, but low (7.5%) in cereal crops. Pollination dependent (PD) production was estimated as 17.8% of total agricultural crop production with the economic value of 6,850 (6,508-7,193) billion won. Especially, PD production of greenhouse vegetables accounted 49.2% followed by fruits of 42.9%. Even specialty crop also showed higher PD production (35.9%). It was obvious that pollination is the vital service for agricultural production as well as nutritional security in Korea. Further protection and enhancing the pollination service were discussed with integrated pollinator-pest management (IPPM) strategies.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.71-80
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• 2013

Present study analyzes the rooftop gardening status, floristic composition and cost and return of the rooftop garden in Sylhet City Corporation of northeastern Bangladesh. Data was collected from 450 rooftop gardeners randomly during July-September 2010. Study reveal that rooftop gardening is generally for mental satisfaction (95.3%) followed by leisure time activity (87.8%) in the study area and almost all the family members of gardeners' were involved; while collection of planting materials, sites preparation and marketing of products were reported to be carried out by males only (male 71.33%). Middle income classes were most interested in rooftop gardening (43.78%). The survey recorded 53 plant species (35 families) of which Cucurbitaceae family represented highest eight species. Shrubs (28%) were highest followed by herbs (26%) among agri-crops (36%) and flower species (30%). About 89% of the rooftop gardeners procured planting materials from nursery, market, fair, neighbor, relative and friends and they mostly prefer to use seedlings (48%) for roof gardening followed by direct seed sowing (21%). Gardeners sell products sporadically in different local markets, directly or through intermediaries, with no uniform pricing for system. Rooftop gardening improves the food security and meet nutritional deficiency to the gardeners. Survey revealed that generally very few people consider rooftop gardening commercially to get profit and from the cost-return analysis this gardening system can be economically viable if proper and scientifically managed. The study conclude that active government and NGOs could play vital role to increasing this activities by providing training and motivate people with technical aspects of rooftop gardening.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.52 no.5
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• pp.449-464
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• 2019

Purpose: North Koreans could be at higher risk for their bone health because of previous periods of severe famine and the continuing low availability of food. This study determined the bone mineral density (BMD) status and its relationship with dietary behaviors and nutrient intake of North Korean refugees (NKR) in South Korea (SK). Methods: This cross-sectional study analyzed 110 female NKR from a NORNS cohort of a non-probability sample of adult NKR in Seoul. BMD examined by DEXA was used to divide participants into the normal group (NG) and the non-normal group (NNG) according to the WHO guideline. A self-administered questionnaire included questions on age, the socioeconomic situation in North Korea (NK) and SK, the food security in NK and SK, and the health behaviors, dietary behaviors, and food frequency questionnaire administered in SK. A one-day 24-hr recall was conducted and the results were analyzed by using CanPro. SPSS was used to analyze whether BMD and related dietary behaviors and nutrient intakes differed according to the groups. Results: NG (62.7%) was significantly younger and had a lower abdominal obesity score than NNG (p < 0.001). While 14.5% of NG reported experiencing menopause, all of NNG reported experiencing menopause. The NG more frequently consumed the dairy group of foods (9.6 times a week) than did the NNG (4.8 times a week) after the statistics were adjusted for age (p < 0.007). The NG consumed significantly more animal protein and animal calcium than did the NNG (p = 0.01, p = 0.009, respectively). Calcium intake was low with 49.3% of NG, and 78.0% of the NNG reported consuming calcium lower than the estimated average requirement. Only calcium showed an index of nutrient quality lower than one in both groups. Conclusion: These results showed that NKR women and possibly all North Korean women are at high risk for bone health and they consumed low levels of bone-related nutrients, and this should be considered for the nutrition policy for NKR and North Korea.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.45 no.6
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• pp.928-935
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• 2012

World Agriculture faces daunting challenges in feeding the growing population today. Reduction in arable land extent due to numerous reasons threatens achievement of food and nutritional security. Under this back ground, agricultural use of acidic soils, which account for approximately 40 % of the world arable lands is of utmost important. However, due to aluminum (Al) toxicity and low available phosphorous (P) content, crop production in acidic soils is restricted. Citrus, in this context, gains worldwide recognition as a crop adapted to harsh environments. The present paper reviewed Al toxicity and possible toxicity alleviation tactics in citrus. As reported for many other crops, inhibition of root elongation, photosynthesis and growth is experienced in citrus also due to Al toxicity. Focusing at toxicity alleviation, interaction between boron (B) and Al as well as phosphorus and Al has been discussed intensively. Al toxicity in citrus could be alleviated by P through increasing immobilization of Al in roots and P level in shoots rather than through increasing organic acid secretion, which has been widely reported in other crops. Boron-induced changes in Al speciation and/or sub-cellular compartmentation has also been suggested in amelioration of root inhibition in citrus. Despite the species-dependent manner of response to Al toxicity, many commercially important citrus species can be grown successfully in acidic soils, provided toxicity alleviation Agro-biological tactics such as addition of phosphorous fertilizers are used properly.